


Divine Interventions

by Imagined



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angel!Tony, Angels, Angst, Armageddon, Biblical References, Demon!Loki, Demons, First Kiss, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-03-11 22:08:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13533537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imagined/pseuds/Imagined
Summary: Tony is an angel who has grown maybe a tad bitter in the last few centuries. Loki is a demon who doesn’t quite mean for mankind to go extinct just yet. They are forced to work together to stop the world from ending when one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse escapes. Falling in love was not on the schedule, but sometimes, other forces are at work than the ones they know.And sometimes, angels and demons are more alike than they think.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was talking with someone about the book Good Omens, written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, two absolutely amazing writers, and the tv series that is being produced. I don't know if anyone has read it, but I can definitely recommend it. Anyway, I got the idea to write an angel/demon AU for Tony/Loki and because I am me I could not stop myself. Thus, here we are.
> 
> I just want to say that I don't mean to offend any religion with this fic. This is all purely for me to play around with the concept of angels and demons.
> 
> (Also, why do I write non-human!Tony so often? I don't think Hiraeth is out of my system yet.)

It’s not a rare event to find Loki strolling in Central Park. In fact, he rather enjoys the peaceful atmosphere that contradicts the usual hurried ambiance that is present in the rest of New York City. Of course there are enough people around in Central Park as well. But Loki does not mind watching people: once in a while, he flicks his fingers, and they will stumble, and Loki will have something to laugh about.

Lots of people go to Central Park, and Loki does not know why he shouldn’t be able to, just because he’s a demon. It’s not like he has demonic thoughts going through his mind all the time. He should be able to have some time off.

Today, though, he is not there because he wants to be. Loki usually doesn’t get a lot of jobs from Under There, but he was told this was a matter of extreme importance. He understood why as soon as he was told that he is expected to work with a Warrior From Above. Loki has been around longer than most demons, and knows the ins and outs of the business quite well.

Loki hates angels. He was born as a demon – as the son of Laufey, a demon who used to be quite high up in the ranks, but hasn’t remained in that position – and has never had much contact with any inhabitants of Above, but there are some ex-angels who have quite some stories to tell about it. These ex-angels are usually welcomed heartily in Below.

Loki thinks it’s telling that angels can Fall, but demons will never Rise.

~*~

It’s a warm day, and Loki is relaxing on a bench. His eyes are closed, and the only thing he sees is a reddish hue.

‘’Hi,’’ he hears. Loki opens first one eye, then the other when he sees a man standing in front of him. He has a lopsided smile that fits his mischievous dark brown eyes. His hair is a matching colour, curly and messy. The man definitely takes care of himself, and he’s wearing a fashionable suit. He doesn’t look that professional, though: his stance is relaxed, and he has one hand on his hip.

Loki realizes he’s probably been staring too long, and decides to grin back. ‘’Well, hello there,’’ he purrs, ‘’How can I help you?’’ It is hardly the first time he’s been approached by a human, but it has never quite been such a beautiful one. Loki almost regrets that he is here on business, today. 

Then the man raises his eyebrows, clearly amused. ‘’Below sent you to work with me?’’ the man says, and Loki’s world view shatters.

‘’You are an angel?’’ he asks, incredulous.

The angel shrugs. ‘’I hope you’re usually more perceptive.’’

Loki almost sputters, but then remembers he is far too dignified to do that. ‘’Excuse me for thinking you don’t exactly look _heavenly_ ,’’ he points out. ‘’Who knew Above had tailored suits?’’

‘’They don’t,’’ the angel says. ‘’Whereas I do. You can’t expect me to run around in those dresses that Gabriel used to fly around in. I’m here to blend in, not stand out, for fuck’s sake.’’

‘’Are you even allowed to curse?’’ Loki asks.

‘’I’m not allowed to use His name in vain,’’ the angel says. ‘’I can curse all I want. But then again, He has some weird rules. He’s old, you know. Things used to be quite different.’’

‘’I know,’’ Loki says. ‘’I’ve been around for a few thousand years.’’

The angel smiles at him. ‘’That’s good news. I was almost worried that they paired me up with a newbie. Let me tell you, I wasn’t looking forward to that. What’s your name?’’

‘’Loki Laufeyson,’’ he says, holding out his hand. To his credit, the angel doesn’t even hesitate to take it.

‘’Anthony,’’ the angels answers brightly, ‘’but everyone calls me Tony. Let’s get to business, shall we?’’

~*~

‘’Excuse me,’’ Loki interrupts, annoyed and in disbelief. ‘’Which one of the Four Horsemen escaped?’’

‘’The black horse,’’ Tony repeats. ‘’Famine. If we don’t catch it, millions of people will starve.’’

‘’How did it even escape in the first place?’’ Heaven is incompetent. If Loki didn’t suspect it before, he is certain now. The Horsemen are the harbingers of the end of the world, and just losing one is incredibly careless.

Tony gives him an annoyed glance. ‘’We _think_ a demon did it,’’ he answers. ‘’That’s why we involved Below. The entirety of Heaven is in uproar.’’

‘’Why would a demon speed up the Armageddon?’’ Loki asks. ‘’It’s not _us_ that is planning to end the world one day.’’

The angel gives him a look. ‘’Look, I’m not part of the investigation,’’ he says. ‘’I’m part of a special group that takes care of these kinds of problem, when they rear their heads, but that doesn’t mean we get all the details. All I know is that we need to find that Horseman.’’

‘’Fine,’’ Loki says. ‘’How are we going to do that?’’

‘’Humans,’’ Tony answers, a grin plastered on his face. ‘’I don’t care what anyone else says, I love the twenty-first century. I was so bored for the last few centuries, and now they’re thinking up all kind of stuff. I love it when they’re being creative. There are cameras everywhere. I suppose we can borrow one or two.’’

Loki concedes. The angel has a point, after all – humans are infinitely creative and curious. ‘’I have an apartment nearby,’’ he tells Tony. ‘’I want dinner. And then we can figure out how to get access to the cameras.’’

~*~

Loki starts to wish he knew some other angels, if only to gauge if Tony is normal in any sense of the word. Because the angel started hacking the cameras on Loki’s laptop as soon as they got to his apartment with a skill that Loki did not expect from someone who lives Above.

‘’Are all angels this skilled with technology?’’ Loki asks him, watching the angel work.

‘’No,’’ Tony says. ‘’Do all demons have apartments in the middle of the city?’’

‘’No,’’ Loki says. ‘’I just don’t like the other demons. Difference of opinion, one might state. I like affecting a lot of people instead of just the one. Like angels, I have been told, only then negatively instead of positively. I have lots of fun with it.’’

Tony snorts. ‘’I have the same problem,’’ he says. ‘’I tend to pick up strays. And I also mainly stay away from the other angels. I like to keep up with the times, and they… don’t.’’

‘’We’re quite the pair, then,’’ Loki says. Tony smiles at him, softly, but then looks away as the laptop pings.

~*~

Loki takes care of dinner as Tony searches for the lost Horseman. When Loki brings him a plate of spaghetti, however, it seems to him that Tony hasn’t achieved much yet. The angel’s dark eyes scan the information and scroll past the camera images, quietly muttering to himself.

‘’Earth to Tony,’’ Loki says.

‘’Freaking hilarious,’’ Tony remarks deadpan. ‘’Give me the food.’’

Loki grins and hands him the plate. ‘’You angels are certainly very nice. Don’t they teach you manners, up Above?’’

Tony huffs, and brings a fork with spaghetti to his mouth without any trouble at all. Loki is impressed that he eats it like an Italian would. ‘’If you really want to know? Angels are pretentious assholes, and it shows. I’m not surprised so many go to your side, is all I’m saying.’’

Loki raises his eyebrows. ‘’You are nothing like I would have expected,’’ he comments.

‘’It’s thousands of years of propaganda. You don’t mean for it to happen, because you think you’re open-minded, unbiased. Then something happens, and you realize you have an opinion without a reason,’’ Tony says, munching on a mouthful of spaghetti. ‘’Then the shit happens, and you start re-evaluating, and find out that you’ve been told so many lies that you don’t even know which way is up. And that’s the moment you stop listening to what everyone else is saying, and start saying what everyone else doesn’t want you to say.’’

It definitely sounds like Tony has had some bad experiences with other angels, or maybe even Above in general. Loki has to tread carefully, if he wants to figure out what has happened to Tony. Maybe he’s met some demons, maybe some angels told him something he didn’t want to hear. Maybe he knows someone who has fallen, and is bitter about it. There is an endless amount of possibilities.

‘’Below isn’t as glorious as people say,’’ Loki offers. ‘’Demons are naturally liars, deceivers, thieves. We cannot resist temptation. We generally hate each other, so everyone does their own things, except when the dear Master has missions to hand out, of course.’’

Tony smiles. ‘’Maybe Above and Below aren’t that different,’’ he says, but then the laptop starts beeping, and Tony puts down his plate to look at it again. Loki tries not to feel disappointed as their conversation ends.

‘’Found a black horse,’’ Tony says. ‘’No rider, though.’’

Loki puts down his own plate and goes to take his coat. Maybe it’s for the best if they find the Horseman as soon as possible, because Loki is growing to actually like this angel with his abrasive language and criticism on Above.

~*~

‘’This is _not_ ,’’ Tony states, ‘’the horse of the Horseman.’’

The horse bristles, as if insulted. ‘’Drink your water,’’ Loki commands the animal. The horse gives them both a pointed look, but he does start drinking the water he has gotten from the animal rescue centre.

‘’I’m sorry, sirs,’’ a woman with dyed blond hair says, ‘’do you mean to say you lost another horse? And who is the Horseman?’’

‘’No, we did not lose another horse, because this one was not ours to lose in the first place,’’ Loki tells her.

‘’But yes, we did lose another horse,’’ Tony adds. ‘’The Horse of the Horseman. You know, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? We need to find him.’’

The woman blinks at them. Loki shakes his head and gives her a card with his number on it. ‘’If you, by any chance, find another black horse, please call us.’’ Loki proceeds to turn around and drags the angel with him.

‘’Even if he already has an owner!’’ Tony yells at the woman, before they’re back on the street again.

‘’You are unbelievable,’’ Loki tells him. ‘’Now she will think we are absolute fools.’’ 

Tony grins. ‘’Of course not. Hardly anyone ever reads the Bible. She probably had no idea what we were talking about. It’s fun, and when people actually get what I’m saying, I can get into religious discussions with them. You don’t know half the shit people made up.’’

‘’I thought you didn’t want to stand out?’’ Loki points out.

Tony shrugs. ‘’Humans are slightly insane. I’d stand out more if I actually started being an actual proper angel.’’

Loki sighs, but can't deny it.

~*~

‘’Do we even know for sure that the Horseman is in New York?’’ Loki asks. ‘’For all we know, they’ve already left the city. A horse and rider like that will certainly get attention in a city.’’

‘’You’re right,’’ Tony says, closing the laptop. ‘’This doesn’t get us any further. Maybe we should stop looking for the Horseman and start looking for the consequences.’’

‘’Famine,’’ Loki says, eyes closing. He’s a demon, but that doesn’t mean he means for everyone to starve. It just means he wants to have a bit of fun, play with people, send them into temptation. Anyway, humans are the best at being the complete worst to other human beings. Demons don’t even need to do much to make it worse.

He has lived among humans for so long now that he’s grown fond of them. It’s folly. It’s madness. But it’s still true. When Loki looks at Tony, he sees the same anguished expression on his face. Angels are made to care, some say, but Loki knows that’s not the truth. Angels are made to be the army of someone far more powerful than any of them, to serve into eternity. Angels are not children of anyone, angels are slaves. And demons are slaves made free.

And Loki knows that caring about humanity is a choice. He has known Tony for barely a day, but he knows the angel cares. Too much, maybe. Enough to have made him bitter.

‘’Famine,’’ Tony agrees, voice tight.

‘’We have time to rescue everyone,’’ Loki finds himself reassuring the angel, putting a hand on his shoulder. ‘’We follow the bad news, and we help them.’’

‘’It’s a Horseman of the Apocalypse,’’ Tony says, miserably. ‘’What the hell can an angel and a demon do against a harbinger of Armageddon?’’

‘’Everything,’’ Loki says, and hopes it’s true.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found out it is Featheruary yesterday. I mean, I didn't even post this fic on purpose, but I guess it fits. enjoy!

Loki takes a turn right, then takes the stairs down to the broken subway station. No one stops him – no one even notices, he has made sure of it.

The passage is dimly lit. The lights are still on, but with the passing of the years, they are flickering. Some are broken; only one light is still burning as brightly as the day the station was built. Loki looks at it briefly, before he has to look away from the light. It’s not that people don’t know that this station once existed, it’s just – it’s passed from memory. No one cares.

Loki doesn’t know how much of that has to do with the fickle memories of humans, and how much is because of his Master’s interference. He doesn’t mean to ask.

‘’I am here,’’ he says into the darkness, once he arrives. A figure frees itself from the shadows, and it is the Master herself that stands in front of Loki, then.

She regards him coolly, evaluating him. Loki is used to it, by now. Her presence is dark, towering. Lady Death is as far away as any angel as Loki could imagine: her skin is pale, but more like an actual corpse than the natural beauty of it. Her long hair is equally white.

‘’What do you think of the angel?’’ she asks him. Her voice is like a whisper, echoing along the room.

Loki takes a breath. ‘’He’s not what I expected,’’ he says eventually. 

Lady Death smiles without any humour in it. ‘’I imagine so,’’ she says. ‘’I did not expect them to send Anthony. Maybe I should have, of course. Above has a way of giving second chances to those they would rather toss into our abyss. He has returned, hasn’t he?’’

‘’He mentioned that he would have to meet with someone to find where Famine was spreading,’’ Loki says, carefully listening to her words. Lady Death often has knowledge that the other demons have no way of possessing, and she undoubtedly knows more about Tony than Loki does. 

‘’He is right,’’ she answers. ‘’It would be in our best interest to catch the horse, too. It is not yet our time – not fully. Armageddon must be prevented.’’

‘’I am well aware,’’ Loki says slowly. ‘’But I doubt this is why you sent for me, Master.’’

‘’As perceptive as always, I see. Indeed. Have you heard of the Avengers?’’

Loki tilts his head. ‘’Everyone has,’’ he says. ‘’But it’s been centuries since they’ve assembled, as I understand.’’

‘’Anthony is an Avenger,’’ Lady Death tells him, and Loki blinks. ‘’It may not seem like it. He is far from perfect. I’ve send a few demons to try to make him fall, on occasion. All of the Avengers, in fact, but they were chosen well. They are stubborn, Loki. Anthony is a danger to us, as are all other Avengers. When the moment is there, kill him. I don’t matter how or when. As soon as Armageddon is stopped, which is the priority here, I want Anthony out of the picture. Do you understand?’’

Loki nods. ‘’I understand,’’ he says.

He doesn’t necessarily want to. But he is a demon, and angels are his enemies.

Tony is his enemy, and he would do well to remember it.

~*~

‘’I need you to stop this, by any way necessary,’’ the man calmly explains to Tony. ‘’I thought you were our best bet for this, Anthony. You know better than anyone else how the world works.’’

‘’I didn’t realize you were making this a Trial,’’ Tony says impatiently. ‘’What if I fail, huh? You can have both my wings _and_ the end of the world.’’

‘’You’re not the only one on this case,’’ Fury says. ‘’I believe in you, but not quite that much. Stephen is working at it from another angle. You may even run into him.’’

Tony cradles his head in his hands. ‘’So it’ll be just my wings that you’ll have. Great.’’

‘’Do I have to remind you who didn’t give up on you after that business with Obadiah?’’ the angel opposite him says, wings rising. ‘’You’re working with a demon, Tony. We have a deal with Below for this thing. No one wants the world to end yet. We just have to keep an extra eye on you, you can understand that.’’

Tony sighs. ‘’You can’t keep using Obadiah against me,’’ he points out. ‘’I didn’t Fall.’’

‘’Nearly.’’

‘’Nearly doesn’t count, Nicholas. I’m still here, and no one has taken me off the Avengers yet. You need me, clearly, or I wouldn’t be here.’’

‘’I’m just looking out for you,’’ Fury says. ‘’The Horseman is still in New York. Famine is still mainly under control, but the longer it takes, the more people are going to die before their time. The other Horsemen are getting antsy – they can feel something is going on.’’

‘’Then don’t let them escape again,’’ Tony says. Does he really have to figure out everything here?

Fury gives him a look, with his one eye. Tony doesn’t even know when his mentor-figure lost the first one: he’s heard it was during a battle with Lady Death herself, or Lucy, as her name was when she was still an angel. Tony only woke up a few centuries later, long after she’d fallen. He’d been taken under the literal wing of Obadiah – he doesn’t even want to think of the mess that his old mentor caused.

‘’Just follow the trail,’’ the older angel says with a long-suffering sigh. ‘’Keep an eye on the demon. He’s caused quite some trouble, over the years. You know I don’t mean for you to be gone from heaven all the time, Tony. Just finish this, and we’ll get you settled in again.’’

‘’Earth is nice,’’ Tony says, standing up, stretching his wings. Soon he’ll have to hide his appearance again, but letting it go like this is freeing. Wings are huge, and unruly to handle at the start, but Tony doesn’t mean to Fall and lose them. He loves flying more than anything in the world. 

‘’Earth is not meant for angels,’’ Nicholas warns him.

Tony shrugs. ‘’We’re bound to change, after all these centuries, Nick.’’

‘’We’re bound to Above, not change. We’re not mortal.’’

No, Tony is very aware of that. He’s not so sure it’s a good thing.

~*~

He meets the demon back in the Garden. It’d been fun to creep up on him, the first time, but this time, Loki is waiting for him, an alert look in his eyes. There’s a shadow under his eyes that wasn’t there just a day ago. Tony supposes that’s the thing about Under. There is conflict, and strife, and chaos. Maybe the demons can go their own way without any care in the world, but there is always a price to pay for that kind of freedom, when you’re immortal. Tony has seen it too often to care for the price in any way. All he wants to do is keep the world safe.

‘’You have a phone?’’ Tony asks cheerfully, keeping up the mask. 

Loki smirks at him. Tony’s not supposed to think demons are attractive, but he’s starting to think Loki is not quite like the others. He’s purely chaos, without that much of a bad intention, he’s starting to think. Loki isn’t a fallen angel, and hasn’t chosen to be a demon. Tony can hardly blame him for being born that way and following his nature. 

He can blame himself for maybe liking it a bit too much, though.

‘’What, you want my phone number?’’ Loki says casually.

‘’As a matter of fact, I do,’’ Tony says, tossing him his own phone. It’s a newer model, and he sees Loki appreciate it, for a moment. ‘’I’m more on Earth than Above, these days, and I do have some people to keep in touch with.’’

His strays, more like. Tony knows that most angels try to save everyone, but Tony’s long given up trying to achieve the impossible.

‘’I can see that,’’ Loki says, probably scrolling through his contacts. ‘’Who, exactly, is Spider-boy?’’

Peter. Well. ‘’A pet project,’’ Tony says. It’s true, really. ‘’Just put yourself in there, maybe under ‘Dorky Demon’. Or maybe you’d prefer ‘Servant of Evil’. You get to choose.’’

‘’How nice of you,’’ Loki hums, and starts typing. 

‘’Did you get any information?’’ Tony asks him, and Loki shrugs, handing him back his phone. Tony looks at it; Loki’s put himself under ‘Handsome devil’. Well, he’s not wrong.

‘’Not as such,’’ Loki says, putting his hands in his pockets. ‘’Did your trip do you any good?’’

Tony smiles, and thinks of Nicholas telling him this was a Trial for him. Go big or go home, in other words. Tony really wishes Above would stop handing him these things, every few centuries. He likes to think that he’s proven to them that he can be trusted, when it is about humanity.

‘’A little bird told me the Horseman is still in New York, and that we should follow the trail. And that we are on a clock. Yes, I am very aware he only told me stuff we already knew.’’

Loki bites his lip, eyes focusing on something distant. He’s clearly thinking about something. ‘’We need to find a place that ran out of food, very suddenly and very quickly, without much of an explanation,’’ he then says. 

Tony shrugs. ‘’Let’s follow the trail, then.’’

~*~

‘’There’s a fire,’’ Tony says, squinting into the distance. ‘’Is that… it’s a supermarket. Shit. Come on, we need to put out the fire. Maybe there are people inside.’’

Loki glances at the angel. Fire and ice are the elements he can control best, but it will definitely call attention to itself if the fire goes out too suddenly. 

People are running out of the building, holding their hands over their mouths, coughing loudly. There are no firemen; the fire has just started, but it’s growing rapidly, nearly the entire building being on fire already. The shop next to it starts burning too.

Tony starts to mutter something next to Loki, and for a moment, all he can do is stare. It isn’t obvious to anyone not looking, but his skin starts emitting a slow light, barely visible in daylight. If Loki looks very closely, he can even see the faint outline of huge white wings on Tony’s back. They flutter for a moment, and then Tony stops speaking, and they disappear again. The fire stops spreading over to other buildings, but still burns fierily.

He almost wants to ask Tony to show him again, because Loki is a demon, and angels are the most beautiful beings out there, and he is _tempted_ , but then he sees something in the corner of his eyes and turns.

A teenage girl is standing there, her hair bright blue with nails to match. She’d look innocent, if not for a dark look in her grey eyes. Loki wouldn’t have paid her much attention, if not for the dark horse trailing behind her.

‘’Tony,’’ he says, and starts moving towards her. She goes against the stream of people moving away from the fire, walking into the house on fire with the horse. 

‘’Shit,’’ Tony says, having followed Loki’s gaze. ‘’I never thought the Horseman would be a teenage girl.’’

Loki hadn’t thought of it either, but the way the girl walks into the fire, unafraid, dark horse following behind her – it can’t be anything else. No one is paying her any attention. She definitely isn’t a mere human, nor up to anything good.

Loki follows her into the burning building, feeling the smoke in his lungs immediately. He can hear Tony following him. The smoke and fire makes it hard to see anything, but Loki doesn’t fear for his life. Angels and demons are made from sterner stuff, and no true harm will come to him. 

‘’Famine!’’ Tony calls behind him. A wall comes down behind them, and Tony just manages to evade it, bumping into Loki.

‘’Take the right, I’ll go left,’’ Loki says. ‘’Yell if you find her.’’

Tony simply nods and disappears from Loki’s view – not that it is a hard thing to do, with all the smoke masking his view. Loki handles it better than anyone else would have, certainly, though he still wants to stop the fire. He doesn’t have full control over the elements, not when they are raging like this, and no time to perform a proper spell over it. He will just have to bear with it and find the Horseman quickly.

She’s waiting for him, at the end of an aisle. When she spots him, she gives him a tight smile. Her teeth are blackened, and her nostrils are flaring.

‘’Demon,’’ she says. ‘’Are you here to stop me?’’

‘’We can strike a deal,’’ Loki tells her. ‘’I’m no darling, either, but it is not your time to create chaos yet.’’

‘’I will decide that for myself, thank you,’’ the Horseman says, and she throws her hair over her shoulder. ‘’I am free, and soon my sisters will be too. I do not make deals, demon, not with you, nor with Above.’’ 

Loki takes his daggers, one in either hand. The weight of them in his hands makes him feel comfortable. Just as he is about to go at her, the horse gets in front of her, and Loki has to slide on the ground to circumvent the horse and get to the Horseman.

She was probably counting on that. As soon as Loki gets near her, daggers ready, something falls on top of him, and a blinding pain in his stomach draws a scream from him. Everything goes dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *ends with biggest cliche ever* oops.
> 
> next chapter may take a bit longer than usual (but I think I'm usually pretty fast with updating, so I imagine it won't be all that long). I hate to say it, but it's because the plot did something unexpected and I'm not sure whether it's working, so I may have to rewrite everything. also, I'm working on like two other things as well, which are going a bit more smoothly. on the other hand, I'm going back to university this Monday, so I will write more (because, somehow, I write most when I'm procrastinating. has anyone read Hiraeth? I wrote the entire thing during exams. and I aced my exams. still not sure how that happened). sorry for the ramble, just know that the next chapter may take a bit longer. I promise it will be there, though.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ugh, this chapter. I rewrote it two times, was still not happy with it, wrote some other stuff instead, and finally came back to this a few days ago, rewrote it again, and then started the next chapter in case it still didn't work out. honestly, I really don't want to do it all again. really, I have no idea why I seem to struggle so much with this. hopefully, the rest of it will go a bit easier.

Tony turns around when he hears an inhuman scream that he recognizes as coming from Loki. ‘’Shit,’’ he mutters to himself, and turns around. The fire makes it hard for him to see anything, and the smoke isn’t all that great, either. Tony grimaces – he has little choice, if he wants to get to Loki in time.

Decision made, he unfurls his hidden wings, and the smoke goes up around him as Tony throws himself into the air and flies.

Loki isn’t far away, fortunately, but Tony is only just in time to see the teenage girl, the Horseman, holding a knife to his throat. It seems the demon is unconscious, his hair falling over his pale face.

‘’Hey!’’ he calls out to her, landing before her, trying not to cough up smoke. ‘’I think you have something that belongs to me, there.’’

The girl laughs, throwing back her head. ‘’A demon?’’ she asks, amusement clear in her voice. ‘’Working with an angel? Well, odder things have happened, I suppose. But I will tell you the same thing I told him: I’m not working with you. Not with Below, not with Above. It’s time for another force to rise.’’

‘’Tell me what that is, then,’’ Tony says, holding out his hand. He may not have a flaming sword, but there’s a reason that angels are part of an army, and there’s a reason that Tony is part of the Avengers. It’s not because he can’t pack a punch.

‘’No,’’ the girl says, and stabs her knife right into Loki’s lung.

Tony shoots her with a pale blue light from his hand, and she falls back. The dark horse comes charging toward him, then, but Tony has some knives of his own. He doesn’t know how immortal these horses are, but he’s sure a knife will harm them just as much as it might an angel or demon.

With the knife and a bit of a push, he gets the horse out of the way, ignoring the way it is bristling. He feels his wings tipping into the fire behind him, and it hurts like hell, but he goes on towards the girl as she shouts in indignation.

‘’Come back with me and I promise you’ll get away with this with a slap on the wrist and nothing more,’’ Tony tells her sternly. Her eyes are wide as she scrambles backwards. Tony keeps his eyes fixed on her, but crouches downward very quickly to check Loki’s pulse. It’s going fast, but at least the demon is still alive. It takes quite some effort to kill the inhabitants of Below.

The girl nods to the demon. ‘’Don’t think we Horsemen don’t have our own powers,’’ she says, and runs off, right through the smoke.

‘’Damn it,’’ Tony whispers, torn between running after her and staying with Loki. The demon’s breathing is wheezy, and he can’t let an innocent – or relatively innocent, as it is – person die on his watch. On the other hand, he can’t simply let Famine get away, can he?

A falling piece of debris makes the choice for him. Tony coughs, fluttering with his wings, testing their strength. They’re hurting, but it’s not too bad. The building is going to go down within minutes. Tony lifts Loki up, carefully not to hurt him further, and watches the dying Horse beside him. ‘’Sorry your Horseman made me do that,’’ he says, and lifts himself into the air, carrying Loki.

And then he flies.

~*~

He brings Loki to his own apartment. He has one, in a pretty nice part of the town too, if he says so himself. Considering he spends more time on Earth than he does Above, he thought it would be a good investment.

It probably doesn’t look very angelic. He has computer parts lying all over the place, and there’s a leather couch that Tony got from somewhere off the street. He does have lots of plants, though, because he likes the warmth they omit, and they don’t have cactuses Above.

Tony likes cactuses. Mainly because all other plants die, as he forgets to water them.

He got an apartment with balcony, the door from that to his living room always unlocked in case he needs to fly away instead of come through the front door. So it’s there that he lands, and enters his home. He drops off Loki on his couch, first – he needs to do something about that wound. Luckily, he always has a first aid kit nearby.

Tony removes Loki’s shirt carefully, uncovering the pale skin covered in sticky blood. Tony sighs, and gets to work.

~*~

When Loki wakes up, he feels disoriented. Breathing hurts, and he opens his eyes to see why that is. He’s greeted by a pair of big brown eyes with dark lashes, staring at him intently.

Loki sneezes, and clutches his ribs at how much that hurts.

‘’Bless you,’’ Tony says merrily, and Loki notices the huge white wings behind him. There’s a glow on his skin and in his eyes that wasn’t there before, and well – Loki forgets to breathe for a moment.

Then he breathes out, and winces again at the pain. ‘’Do you even have the authority to bless anyone, let alone a demon?’’ he asks.

‘’I can bless whoever I want, thank you very much.’’ Tony stands up. ‘’The Horseman teenager girl, Famine, whatever she wants to call herself, messed you up pretty well.’’

‘’The Horse got in my way,’’ Loki says, annoyed. ‘’Did you manage to deal with her?’’

‘’Not so much. I dealt with the Horse, though. It’s just her, now. Did she tell you anything, before she stabbed you?’’

‘’Oh, so that’s what happened,’’ Loki says, lifting up the blanket he’s under. There’s nothing to be seen, though; only a bandaged that’s more red than white, at this point.

Tony snorts. ‘’It is, indeed, what happened. Luckily, your guardian angel intervened before she could do something worse.’’

‘’Well, it seems that I am indebted to you, then,’’ Loki purrs, and forces himself up. Tony is still sitting beside him, and Loki can see the lighter spots in his dark eyes, fixed on his own. 

‘’You are,’’ Tony says, voice low, and Loki doesn’t know what is happening, but then they’re kissing, Tony’s hands finding their way into Loki’s hair and Loki’s hands brushing over the soft feathers of Tony’s wings. Tony’s lips are soft against his own, and he’s pushing a little against Loki’s mouth, and Loki pushes right back.

Tony pulls a little on his hair and Loki retaliates by biting on Tony’s lower lip. As he tries to pull the angel on top of him, he feels his wound sting, and pulls back instinctively at the pain.

Tony draws back, pupils dilated and lips swollen and red, looking at Loki for a moment, before standing up very abruptly. ‘’Shit,’’ he says, walking a few paces.

Loki just hisses and settles his hand on his wound. It’s hurting, and even if he knows he’ll be back to normal very quickly, it’s certainly an inconvenience. Especially as he’d been having so much fun before.

‘’Well, we _can_ do that again more carefully,’’ Loki comments, carefully watching Tony’s expression. His wings are fluttering anxiously and Tony turns to him.

‘’We can _never_ do that again,’’ Tony says in a rough voice. ‘’Do you understand me? Never. You are going to heal, and then we’re going to find the Horseman, and afterwards, you are going back to Below and I’m going back to Above.’’

_Well, I do have those orders to kill you_ , Loki thinks, but he’s hardly going to state that out loud. ‘’Don’t tell me Above has forbidden you from having sex,’’ he drawls.

Tony raises his eyebrows. ‘’Not exactly, but I imagine having sex with demons is going to make some people up there angry,’’ he points out. But at least he doesn’t say he doesn’t want it, which is all that Loki needs.

‘’Sit down,’’ he says, predatory smile in place. ‘’No one’s watching you all the time, Tony. Not even Below is that obsessive, and let me tell you, they distrust everyone.’’

Tony does sit down, but it’s with a heavy sigh, and too far away from Loki. ‘’Maybe not my every move, but definitely enough,’’ he says, and scratches his head, looking to the ground. ‘’I’m on Trial, okay? I can’t afford to have any mishaps, or they’ll take my wings and cast me out. I’m not like you, Loki. I can’t Fall. Above may be full of hypocrites, but it’s not like Below is going to be better for me.’’

Loki blinks. Tony, on Trial? He doesn’t know much about Trials, but from what he’s heard of it, it is a certain kind of test to test how firmly an angel still believes in their cause. ‘’Why are you on Trial? I thought you were part of the Avengers?’’

Tony’s eyes darken, and he focuses on Loki with a sharpness the demon has not seen in the angel yet. ‘’What do you know about the Avengers?’’

Well. Of all the times to misspeak. Loki holds up his hands in surrender. ‘’Do you really think Below would not tell me about that little fact?’’ he asks. Perhaps they wouldn’t have told anyone else, but Loki has to say something. 

Tony slumps, and his wings go with him. It’s fascinating to see how they are part of his body. Loki wants to feel them against, the soft texture against his fingers.

‘’Point is, we’re not supposed to be friends,’’ Tony says. ‘’We have a job to do. We should stick to it. You and me, you know that’s impossible.’’

‘’But you do want it, don’t you?’’ Loki asks, staring at the angel intently.

‘’Yes,’’ Tony says firmly, ‘’But that doesn’t matter. I’m an angel, you’re a demon. We need to focus on finding the Horseman.’’

Well. Lady Death did mention she’d tried to trip up the Avengers, and failed. If Loki can make Tony Fall, he won’t have to kill him, and he can get to sleep with him.

Sounds like a solid plan, even if Loki says so himself.

~*~

Well. They’re back where they started, only with some more sexual tension. Tony supposes he can’t complain. If Loki hadn’t pulled back when his injury started hurting, Tony doesn’t know what could have happened. It seems illogical to deny his attraction to the demon, but that doesn’t mean he should act on it. In fact, he very much should not.

Tony needs to get his act together. A fling with a demon, no matter how handsome, will cost him his wings, and there’s nothing that is more important to him than that. If Tony isn’t an angel, he doesn’t know what he is. Fallen – and he isn’t.

It’s the middle of the night, and Tony can’t sleep. He has offered Loki his bed, because the demon is injured, and needs it more than him. But the couch on which he’s lying reeks of Loki’s blood, and the curtains don’t properly block the light coming from the city.

Tony moves out of the bed, onto the balcony. His wings flutter behind him, feeling the wind. He should probably hide them again, soon, but he’s always loathe to do it. As much as he adores Earth, he dislikes hiding his wings away. 

New York is always busy, even in the middle of the night. Tony smiles at the people hurrying past, even if they don’t see him. All angels can choose not to be seen, if they so choose. 

He doesn’t expect someone to land on his balcony, but he does get a visitor.

‘’Rhodey!’’ he exclaims, as his fellow angel and eldest friends pulls him in a hug.

‘’Hey, Tones,’’ his friends greets him back, warmly, patting his shoulder. ‘’Haven’t seen you around in a while.’’

‘’It’s not me who’s doing flying missions all the time,’’ Tony points out cheerfully. With all the shit going around, he can use his friend here for a few minutes.

Rhodey shrugs, grinning. ‘’It’s not me getting into trouble, though, either. Hey, I heard from some people that they’ve put you on this Horseman business, and that it’s a Trial? What’s true of that?’’

Tony sighs, and walks back into the room. ‘’All of it,’’ he tells Rhodey. ‘’Be quiet. I’ve got an injured demon sleeping.’’

Rhodey gives him a shocked look and takes his shoulders. ‘’Tony. You can’t go around working with a demon on a Trial. Shit, what the hell are you thinking? This isn’t like that time you were running around with Justin, is it?’’

‘’Justin running around with me, more like,’’ Tony mutters. ‘’I didn’t choose this, Platypus. Above and Below got a deal for this one, you heard ‘bout that? Don’t worry, they’re not going to make me fail for working with him. I’m supposed to work with him. It’s one job and poof. We’ll never see him again.’’

‘’You truly hurt my feelings,’’ Loki says drily from where he’s standing, leaning against the door. Tony and Rhodey both look up – Tony hadn’t even heard him coming. ‘’I thought we had a special connection.’’

‘’Yes, our incessant witty banter is very deep and meaningful,’’ Tony tells him. ‘’Rhodey, this is my demon buddy, Loki. Loki, this is Rhodey.’’

‘’Odd name, for an angel,’’ Loki says, scrunching his eyes at Rhodey.

Rhodey shrugs. ‘’It’s not my name, but this genius dumbass here refuses to let that go. Anyway, did you have any luck with the Horseman yet?’’

Tony and Loki share a look. ‘’Well, I got the Horse down, but she got Loki down, so I think it’s a tie,’’ Tony says.

‘’I am equal to a horse?’’ Loki asks, and it sounds so indignant that Tony has to laugh.

‘’I mean, we can say you’re more important than the Horse, but then we would just be losing, at this point,’’ the angel points out. Loki shrugs.

Rhodey sighs, giving Tony a look which clearly conveys how ridiculous he finds this entire thing. ‘’I heard a thing about a food shortage, but not human food. Animal food,’’ Rhodey says. ‘’I thought you might want to know about it.’’

Tony snaps to attention. ‘’Where?’’ he asks.

‘’Just a few blocks away,’’ Rhodey says. ‘’Somehow, and don’t ask me how, there’s no animal food to be found.’’

‘’Stay here,’’ Tony says to Loki, ‘’You’re injured. Rhodey and I will deal with this. Get some sleep, okay?’’

The demon doesn’t seem to like it, but Tony doesn’t give him the chance to retort as he runs back to the balcony and jumps, followed by Rhodey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: the bit about Tony taking care of his cactuses was me reprimanding myself because my cactus actually died, and i'm still not sure how that happened. rip colin the cactus.


	4. Chapter 4

‘’Stupid angels,’’ Loki mutters, walking into the bedroom, grimace on his face as he pulls on his injury. It’s not as if he doesn’t want to assist. He needs more time with Tony, more time to make him Fall.

He definitely doesn’t think about the reason he wants him to.

Helping them may be quite the feat, though. Loki pokes experimentally at his injury, but it’s still hurting. It stopped bleeding, at least. He’ll be back on his feet in a day, but for now, he actually does need rest. He would have gotten it, had that other angel not sauntered in and taken away his Tony.

Angels. Ugh. Always off to do the right thing. Loki hates it.

~*~

Rhodey is right. They’re at an animal centre, and all Tony hears left and right is complaints about people not buying enough animal food. They don’t seem to think anything strange has happened, but that’s not odd. Humans often don’t notice the supernatural things happening all around them.

Tony and Rhodey have hidden their wings, walking around. It’s still very early in the morning, but the crisis seems to have amassed a small group of people, presumably volunteers. 

‘’Well, hello again,’’ a voice says, and Tony turns to see the teenage girl. She’s sitting on a bench, lazily chewing on something. Rhodey moves to attack her, but Tony grabs his arm to stop him. The girl smiles.

‘’What are you doing?’’ Rhodey hisses at him.

But Tony sees what his friend doesn’t – a layer protecting the girl. Any attack they try will immediately bounce back.

‘’Your friend is not as smart as you,’’ the Horseman comments, waving her hands in Rhodey’s general direction. ‘’I thought we should have a conversation outside of combat. Where’s your demon friend that you were so eager to protect?’’

‘’Not here,’’ Tony says, unfurling his wings. She doesn’t even glance at them. ‘’You didn’t seem to want to talk earlier. Why would you want to now?’’

‘’I have an ally who told me a little something about you.’’ The girl smiles knowingly. ‘’Told me that you weren’t the standard angel. Told me you might even come to agree with our vision, in time.’’

‘’If your vision includes Armageddon, I wouldn’t count on it,’’ Tony tells her, staring at her. He wonders who her ally might be, the person who allegedly knows stuff about Tony. He’s rather well known Above, but everywhere else people don’t know about him.

She shrugs. ‘’Armageddon is the only reason I exist. I have been waiting for the end since the begin, and I’ve had enough. I want freedom, for everyone, and for that, we need a new beginning. A beginning that isn’t dictated by Above, nor by Below. I am not an angel and I am not a demon – I am something in between. Aren’t you tired of always being the perfect little warrior for someone who doesn’t care about you?’’

‘’It’s nothing like that, and it’s nothing for you to mess with,’’ Rhodey says, stepping in front of Tony, as if trying to protect him. ‘’There’s a plan, and we’re going to stick with it. Right, Tony?’’

‘’Right,’’ Tony says. ‘’Famine, stop this. There’s nothing irredeemable.’’

‘’Oh, but there will be,’’ she says, and snaps with her fingers. Then something comes from behind Tony, but he turns too late to see it, and Rhodey’s alarmed shout is the last thing he hears.

~*~

Loki is lounging. His injury is healing well, so far, and he imagines he’ll be fully healed within a few hours. The upside of being immortal. 

The angels haven’t returned yet, and Loki tries not to think too much about it. Anything could have happened, after all, and not necessarily bad. Tony is an Avenger, a very skilled angel, and Loki doesn’t doubt he can take care of himself. Besides, he has that other angel, and they seemed to be good friends. Undoubtedly, they will look after each other.

His positive thoughts are shattered when the dark-skinned angel flies into the room, pushing open the door to the balcony with his wings. Loki would be slightly intimidated by it, if it weren’t for the anguished look on his face.

‘’You snake,’’ the angel snarls, pointing a glittering sword to Loki’s throat. ‘’Double-dealing asses, all of you demons. Where is Tony?’’

‘’What are you talking about?’’ Loki says, and pushes away the sword. It’s so sharp that it cuts into his hands, but he doesn’t care. No one will point any weapon at him, especially not when accusing him falsely.

Rhodey drops his sword to the floor, but there’s a fire in his eyes that Loki can identify as worry. Something has happened to Tony, then. Loki stands up. ‘’Tell me what has happened,’’ he demands, and something in Rhodey shifts.

‘’You swear you have no part in this?’’

‘’I can’t make an oath that you can believe, but very well,’’ Loki says annoyed, and lays his hand on his heart. ‘’I swear I have no idea what has happened to Tony and mean him no harm. Now tell me, what has happened and what can we do about it?’’

‘’It’s Obadiah,’’ Rhodey says. ‘’He Fell, a few centuries ago. I heard he’s doing pretty well for himself now, Below.’’

Obadiah. Loki has heard of him before, but he’s never had much contact with him. The ex-angel is a bit too smug for Loki, and too aggressive. He lacks style.

‘’What about him?’’

Rhodey sighs. ‘’He used to be Tony’s mentor, when we were younger. He became discontented with Above, but he hid it pretty well, until it was almost too late. He did some pretty absurd stuff, to Tony. I’ve spent so long searching for him, and when I found him – well, it wasn’t pretty. None of us knew that he was behind Tony’s disappearance, until he’d almost got to Tony so bad that they almost made him Fall. But Tony is strong, and while Obadiah Fell, Tony proved himself and became stronger for it. After that, they made him an Avenger, but… well, he’s never been the same.’’

‘’Why exactly are you telling me this?’’ Loki asks carefully. He’s a demon, and there’s no reason for this angel to trust him with his best friend’s story. 

Rhodey gives him a hard look. ‘’I don’t trust you, let that be clear. But for some reason, you do care about Tony, I can see that. And Tony has vouched for you, which he doesn’t do often since Obadiah. Besides, I need your help finding him and getting him back from that back-stabbing demon. Considering Obadiah is working with Famine, I imagine he’s going against Below too, right? So you must stop him.’’

He does have a point, as long as this isn’t a plot concocted by Below, but Loki doesn’t think so. He’d have to check with Lady Death, though – she does lots of things, and not all of them she tells her demons. But he doesn’t see any reason at all for her to set loose the Horsemen – after all, things are supposed to get a lot worse on Earth, sending a lot more people into temptation. None of them are quite ready for Armageddon yet.

‘’I will help you,’’ Loki says. ‘’But this needs to be done with a little more refinement than your usual method of barging in somewhere and demanding what you need. This calls for a bit of temptation. We need to know what Obadiah and the Horsemen are after, and then we use it against him.’’

A plan is starting to come to him.

~*~

‘’I thought you’d have some choice words for me,’’ Obadiah says.

Tony continues to say nothing, but chooses to glare. His hands are tied behind his back, and he’s been forced into a chair, to which Obadiah has also bound his feet.

The elder angel walks to him with a sigh, grabbing him by the chin, forcing him to look up. ‘’We can do this the hard way or the easy way, Tony. You know I’ve always wanted the best for you.’’

‘’If you’re really going to lie, you could think up something more convincing,’’ Tony spats out, and gets a slap for his trouble.

‘’Oh, Anthony,’’ Obadiah says, and lets go of him. ‘’You forget that I know you, boy.’’

Tony doesn’t mean to feel intimidated, but he can’t really help it. His former mentor has two gigantic iron wings on his back, seemingly going all the way into his back. If humans are sometimes intimidated by the appearance of angels, they’d be running when seeing Obadiah. There’s a crazed look in his eyes that makes Tony more uncomfortable than anything else could, and the wings are only prove it.

‘’You don’t know shit,’’ Tony says, trying to get out of his bonds. ‘’I trusted you once, but don’t think that’s going to happen again, Obi. There’s nothing you could do or say that changes my mind.’’

Obadiah smiles. ‘’I think we both know you’ve cracked before, Tony.’’

Tony stills. ‘’I haven’t.’’

‘’After the Avengers formed,’’ his old mentor continues, ‘’you suddenly seemed to disappear of the radar. I had some people follow you, only to find out you weren’t doing quite so well. You may have held out in Afghanistan, but something that is cracked can never be fixed. It doesn’t matter how much you have tried, Tony, you’re broken now. Above doesn’t want you, and Below doesn’t suit you. If you don’t follow me willingly, you will follow me because there’s nowhere else for you to go.’’

‘’I’m not going to follow you at all,’’ Tony says, straightening his spine as in how far he can. This may not end well, but he’ll never forgive himself if he ever gives into Obadiah.

Obadiah gives him a promising look. ‘’We’ll see.’’


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that this took so long. I am unable to plan what I'm gonna write, I usually just go with whatever's stuck in my head. unfortunately, that means right now that i'm juggling five different stories. for those who read my other stuff too, i'll try to keep my focus on cynefin and this story for the coming weeks, so i hope to update more regularly. i miss the days i was able to update like every two days haha. hope you enjoy :)

The first thing that Loki does, is go and see Lady Death.

‘’The Horseman and Obadiah are working together,’’ he tells her, as she stands before him, her expression impassive as she watches him pace. ‘’He has taken Anthony. I believe that it is perhaps Obadiah that has set Famine free.’’

‘’Obadiah may have Fallen, but he has never obeyed me,’’ Lady Death says calmly. ‘’I am not surprised by this, even if he has remained out of my sight. He remains in the city for now. Find him, Loki, and then bring him before me. Bring the angel before me, as well.’’

‘’Anthony?’’ Loki asks, stilling. 

Lady Death smiles. ‘’You have taken a fancy to him, haven’t you?’’

‘’He _is_ handsome,’’ Loki says, not finding it in himself to start pacing again. For some reason, he feels like he is on thin ice.

‘’That’s not merely it,’’ Lady Death says, and her eyes bore into Loki’s. ‘’You’ve encountered enough handsome people to satisfy you, and yet, you’ve chosen this angel. Don’t deny it, I can see the truth, even if you continue to lie to yourself. You want to make him Fall, so you can have him. And he can have you.’’

‘’You said yourself that you have tried to make the Avengers Fall on many occasions,’’ Loki points out. ‘’I figured it wouldn’t be so bad to have him on our side.’’

‘’What you don’t see is that even if Anthony were to Fall, he would not necessarily be on our side.’’ Lady Death moves to stand in front of him. Loki is not short, but she towers above him, and he does not move. ‘’When you find them, bring them before me. Both of them.’’

‘’Of course,’’ Loki says.

~*~

‘’How was your date with the devil?’’ the dark-skinned angel asks as Loki reappears. Loki walks past him, until Rhodey pins him against the wall, a dark look in his eyes. ‘’Hey, I asked you something.’’

‘’And they say demons are the rude ones,’’ Loki scoffs, and pushes away Rhodey. ‘’She affirmed Obadiah is operating by himself, and is still in New York. That’s all she gave me.’’

‘’In the city is all nice and well, but New York is not exactly small,’’ Rhodey points out.

Loki shrugs, and starts walking again. ‘’You know Obadiah better than me. Where would he go, hiding a high-profile angel while working with Famine to destroy the world?’’

Rhodey’s eyes go wide. ‘’Son of a bitch,’’ he says, and look at that, apparently Tony is not the only angel who curses. ‘’I know where he’d go.’’

~*~

It’s not that Tony doesn’t appreciate being locked in the tower in New York that he and Obadiah had helped make, once upon a time. Of course it’s been reconstructed since, but it still stands, even though not all levels are used anymore. For Obadiah, it’s perfect, considering he knows every nook and cranny of the place. 

Famine is sitting on the floor in the basement where he’s being held, dividing her time between watching him and reading a book. Tony can’t see which one from this distance, but its cover is a bright red. 

‘’Not that I object to being quite so important to be guarded by a Horseman of the Apocalypse,’’ Tony says, ‘’But shouldn’t you be out there starving people? Isn’t that your grand plan?’’

Famine licks her fingers and turns a page, not even looking up. ‘’I’m laying low.’’

‘’You didn’t do so before,’’ Tony says. ‘’Was this a plot to capture me? How did Obadiah even know they’d send me?’’

She shrugs, and continues reading. Tony’s mind is racing. Obadiah definitely has a plan going on, and it has to do with Tony. He absentmindedly wonders if Loki knows what Obadiah is up to, if they’re in league, or if Obadiah is operating on his own. He hopes Loki isn’t part of this – he likes the demon, secretly, and he kind of thought that it isn’t one-sided.

Well. What the hell. ‘’Hey, hey,’’ he says to Famine. ‘’Was Loki in on this? Or is this just you fuckers?’’

Famine closes her book and stands up, walking over to Tony. She is really a very scary teenager, up close, but he doesn’t flinch. He has faced much worse, over the years.

‘’Look at you, being so fond of a demon,’’ she mocks. ‘’I guess you’ll never know, will you?’’

~*~

‘’They built this?’’ Loki asks incredulously, looking up at the building. It has a few stories, some sort of law firm established in it.

Rhodey nods. ‘’Obadiah spent a lot of time on Earth before he Fell, and he took Tony with him often. Obadiah received criticism for interfering too much on Earth, caring too much about building a life here. It only made him leave more often, and so he built a place to live as a message to Above. Tony constructed it, I think; he’s always been good with technology. I think that’s why Obadiah chose to mentor him.’’

For the first time in a long time, Loki thinks back on Laufey, who cared too much about his status to raise a son he got accidently, and wonders if it wasn’t for the best that he never had much in the way of parents. Angels can’t be born like some demons can, but mentors still serve much of the same purpose. And Loki can’t imagine trusting someone so much, only to find that your mentor has been using you and lying against you for your entire life.

It’s a wonder, in his opinion, that Tony never Fell. He wonders that if Tony won’t Fall for betrayal and hurt, he will fall for lust. Attraction.

Loki thinks about their jokes, about Tony taking care of him in his home, telling him about his Trial, about kissing him.

He wonders if Tony would Fall for love.

~*~

They sneak in at night. Rhodey has hidden his wings, and Loki has his own methods to make himself unseen.

Rhodey presses his finger to his lips, signalling him to be silent, and then points to the floor. The basement, right. Loki follows Rhodey, who says he’s been here before as Tony’s friend. He’s never been very close to Obadiah, though.

Between them, they manage to lure any security away and Loki turns the alarms off with a flick of his fingers. Human engineering may be more and more advanced, but demons have tricks on their sleeves for everything.

Still, finding the stairs takes them a decent amount of them. It’s hidden well, but Rhodey manages to find it. It’s hidden in a dark part of the ground floor, in a room that was locked before, remaining unseen but for the fact that they were looking for it.

The stairs creak when Loki steps on the first one, but Rhodey signs at him to get along. They go down as silently as possible, but the building isn’t very new, and the stairs make quite some noise.

The basement is, in contradiction to the room they just left, very light. Multiple lights are on, but it’s a cold atmosphere. Loki gives a look to the two doors that they can take, but is undecided until the left one slams open and a very angry Famine becomes visible.

‘’How did you find this place,’’ she shouts, and throws a knife at the pair of them. Loki ducks, and considering he hears the knife clatter on the ground, assumes that Rhodey did so as well. He moves forward, but the teenage Horseman seems to be unprepared for an attack.

She goes down with a grunt, scratching at Loki’s back before she loses grip and falls to the ground. Loki pins her down quickly, Rhodey assisting him quickly when he notices what’s happening. 

‘’Is Tony there?’’ Loki asks, peering into the room Famine came out of. Rhodey puts his hands on top of Famine’s head, which rolls back immediately as she goes slack. ‘’Couldn’t you have done that earlier?’’

Rhodey gives him a look. ‘’It can only be done nearby. Sorry if I’m not doing enough for you.’’

But Loki is already walking through the door, looking around. 

Tony is indeed there, bound in a chair. There’s tape in front of his mouth, and a worried look in his dark eyes. It’s not hard to see why, as an older man steps forward. Loki immediately senses that this is another demon, though he has metal wings on his back. They’re not graceful or beautiful like Tony’s, but hard and cold, made to kill.

Loki takes a step forward.

‘’Are you sure you want to do this, Laufeyson?’’ Obadiah asks, laying a hand on top of Tony’s head. The angel has a furious look in his eyes, and it only enrages Loki more, that this creature even dares laying a hand on someone who is his.

‘’Try me,’’ Loki says, and summons his two knives.

If this is to be demon against demon, then so be it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry I'm being so slow. have fun reading this!

Tony is helpless to do anything at all.

Loki is standing on the other side of the room, eyes fixed on Obadiah. Rhodey is moving silently to stand beside him, seemingly having made up with the demon for now. Tony didn’t know his old friend had it in him.

‘’Tony, are you alright?’’ Rhodey asks. Tony would roll his eyes, if the situation had been any different. He’s tied to a chair, the man that has proven to be the ultimate betrayer behind him. He’s peachy.

‘’Sure, yeah, loving this situation,’’ he says.

Obadiah laughs. ‘’I haven’t harmed him. Tony is far too important to me.’’

‘’I bet,’’ Loki snarls, taking yet another step forward. The two knives in his hand seem rather sharp. 

Tony wonders why he’s here. This proves that Loki isn’t working with Obadiah, at least. Loki is far too hostile, and Tony doesn’t think he’s faking it. And if Rhodey had any doubts, he wouldn’t have brought Loki in the loop.

Obadiah walks ahead of Tony, so he can only see the man’s back. The metal wings glint in the light, and Tony has to stop himself from shivering at the sight of them. ‘’It’s not like it truly matters what you do or what you do not achieve here,’’ Obadiah says casually. ‘’Everything is already set up, so you will fail no matter what. Even if by some stroke of chance you managed to kill me, or bring Famine back to those hypocrites Above, there’s three other Horsemen out there right now. Armageddon is coming, whether you, or Above, or Below, or anyone wants it at all.’’

‘’What do you get out of that?’’ Rhodey says, dark eyes intent. 

‘’A new beginning,’’ Obadiah shrugs. ‘’So here’s my deal: feel free to join. There won’t be angels or demons, after all plans that Above has made have failed. There’ll only be my followers, and those who die. Now, I plan to take Tony. He’s my golden goose, after all. Do you choose life, or death?’’

Tony tries to break free, now Obadiah’s attention isn’t on him, but he’s bound too well. Loki tilts his head. ‘’We won’t join you, and neither will Tony,’’ Rhodey says.

Obadiah lays a hand on Tony’s shoulder, and he stills immediately. ‘’Well, that rules the angel out. How does my fellow demon feel about this? You like dear Anthony, don’t you? I can see it in your eyes – you want him to yourself. I can make it happen. Once he’s built my empire, you can have him. I imagine he’ll be so far gone he won’t even care anymore.’’

Tony watches Loki. The demon’s face is emotionless.

‘’Loki,’’ Rhodey says, threat clear in his voice. 

‘’You seem to doubt my abilities to take what I want for myself,’’ Loki says, in a neutral voice. His stance has slackened, though.

‘’On the contrary. I just want to make it easier for you. Don’t you want a pliant angel?’’

Loki’s grin is fiery and unfamiliar. ‘’That’s the exact opposite of what I want,’’ Loki says, and strikes.

~*~

Loki doesn’t do anything without a plan. He likes safeguards, playing it safe. He likes to get what he wants, after all, so why should he go out and try it the hard way?

But there’s no planning for this. Obadiah is using Tony against him, and he doesn’t like it. Obadiah won’t ever be able to give him what he wants, so Loki can’t listen to him. Slow and easy won’t work, so he has to win to make sure he gets what he wants.

He lashes at Obadiah with his knives, but the demon easily evades him, smoother than Loki thought he would be. Then he has a sword in his hand, and counters Loki. ‘’Get Tony away,’’ he snarls at Rhodey, or at least in his general direction, because that’s still a priority.

‘’Loki!’’ he hears Tony shout, but he can’t focus on the angel right now. 

Rhodey goes past him, Obadiah reaching to stop him, but Loki knocks him down with his elbow. The other demon glares at him, sword still at the ready as he gets up, throwing himself at Loki. He blocks the sword with his knives, but Obadiah is strong and relentless, and Loki has to jump out of the way. He uses it to his advantage, quickly sidestepping his enemy and stabbing him in the back with one of the knives.

Obadiah howls and strikes blindly at him, hitting Loki square in the face with his arm. Loki goes down with a huff, rolling away as the sword hits right where his chest was before. In an attempt to keep the demon further away from him, Loki throws one of his knives at him. He hears the clang of it hitting something metal, before it hits the ground. 

Well. One knife down, one more demon to go. Loki makes sure to get up, but that doesn’t have much use, because with one hit of Obadiah, he’s down again. He yells as the sword pierces his side, gasping for breath as the pain sears through his body.

And then the sword is gone, the man towering over his form turning around. Loki clutches at his side, feeling the blood drip through his fingers. Tony is standing there, pale but with fire in his eyes, holding a sword of his own, Rhodey standing beside him with a determined expression.

‘’No one touches my demon,’’ Tony says, and Loki can only watch as he plunges himself into the fight. Rhodey comes to Loki, watching his injury.

‘’Can you walk?’’ he asks.

Loki hisses, and not only out of pain. ‘’I told you to get him out of here!’’

Rhodey hoists him up and Loki has to stop himself from yelling. ‘’Yeah, well, you try to stop Tony when he’s got something in his head. He knows Obadiah; he knows how to fight him for some time. Get someone to apprehend Obadiah, Above, Below, I don’t care at this point. Go!’’

Loki limps to the stairs which they came from. They do need help, but he’s loath to leave Tony with that madman of a demon. 

He comes to a still as he sees Famine on the ground, clutching her head but awake, watching him with one opened eye. ‘’My sisters,’’ she croaks. ‘’You can’t kill him. He has control of my sisters.’’

‘’The other Horsemen?’’ Loki says, trying to remain standing upright. ‘’Where are they? Where does he keep them?’’

‘’Hidden,’’ Famine says.

Well. That’s unhelpful. Loki hears a yell behind him, but he can’t tell whose it is. ‘’Tell me,’’ he says in the most threatening voice he can manage. Famine’s mouth tightens.

~*~

Tony isn’t mad – he knows that taking on Obadiah isn’t the best idea ever, but what choice does he have? Loki getting stabbed by his old mentor enraged him like nothing has before, especially since the demon was doing it to protect him. Tony doesn’t want to think too hard on his emotions, but there’s something between him and Loki, something that’s been there ever since they first met in Central Park.

He can’t think about it, not unless they both make it out of here alive. Rhodey has his back, coming at Obadiah from behind, but the demon keeps kicking his friend away and focuses mainly on Tony. The angel has been on the verge of being headless more than one time by now, but Obadiah seems to have forgotten all about kidnapping Tony, more intent on killing him right now. Maybe he’s decided Tony is more trouble than he’s worth.

‘’The world needs to end, Anthony,’’ Obadiah says to him, clutching his sword tightly, eyes dark. Rhodey is lying on the ground, a few feet away. ‘’If you won’t be part of it, then you might end as well a bit earlier. Save you the pain of seeing everyone you care about die.’’

‘’This is not the time,’’ Tony says, preparing for an attack. He’s on the losing side, unfortunately, but that does not mean he’ll stop fighting. He hopes Loki manages to get out alright; if he could get some help, that would be great, but he’s not sure whether it’s realistic to count on it. Loki is in a pretty bad shape, after all. 

And it’s Tony’s fault. He can’t help but feel the guilt creep up on him, but there’s no time for that. He has to stop Obadiah before he actually manages to get Armageddon going before its time. He doesn’t want the world to end.

Obadiah grins. ‘’It’s long overdue,’’ the demon says, stretching out his metal wings behind his back. Tony doesn’t move, eyes fixed on Obadiah, as the demon suddenly screeches and swings his sword to behind him.

Rhodey ducks, and Tony sees his sword is covered in blood. He managed to strike Obadiah, then – Tony smiles in pride, but Obadiah doesn’t seem to care about his new injury. He conjures some kind of blast, and both Rhodey and Tony fall on their backs.

Tony doesn’t manage to get up before Obadiah is standing over him, sword glinting with Loki’s dark red blood, and closes his eyes.

And nothing comes.

He opens his eyes, seeing a golden glow and Obadiah falling backwards. ‘’You’re welcome,’’ says a familiar voice, faintly amused. ‘’I know you attract trouble, Tony, but this one takes the cake.’’

‘’Steve,’’ Tony sighs. His teammate is far from his best friend; they’re far too different for that. Nevertheless, he’s just saved his life. Obadiah is lying on the ground, frozen.

‘’Nicholas wants to speak with you,’’ Steve says. ‘’It’s about your Trial. I’m sorry, Tony.’’

Tony freezes, eyes growing wide. He shares a look with Rhodey, who seems equally concerned. ‘’I failed my Trial?’’ he chokes out. ‘’I’m losing my wings? They’re really doing that?’’

‘’I voted against it, as did Nicholas,’’ Steve says. ‘’But, yes, essentially. They’re really doing that.’’

‘’Shit,’’ Tony says. ‘’Where’s Loki?’’

‘’I’m here,’’ Loki says from the door opening. He’s leaning against the door frame, clearly unable to hold his weight.

‘’I’ll get him to the gate to Below,’’ Steve says. ‘’You can take Rhodes and go to Above. It’s been an honour having you on my team, Anthony. I’ll take care of this, I promise.’’

‘’We’ll see about that,’’ Tony says, clenching his fists.


End file.
